Today is World Water Day and while we have been busy developing technology for renewable energy, I have heard relatively little about how we plan to tackle the looming problem of water shortages.

Peter Brabeck-Letmanthe, chairman of food company Nestle, has written that “we will probably run out of water long before we run out of fuel.” He says:

“The 2030 Water Resources Group estimates that global water requirements will grow by over 50% over the next 20 years. Such levels of usage will be 40% greater than what can currently be sustainably supplied.

By 2030 one third of the global population, mainly concentrated in developing countries, will have only half the amount of naturally renewed water available they need.”

The team will be carrying iPhones and thanks to the wonders of modern technology anyone will be able to follow them flying over the “abode of the gods” from their computer screens.

Team member Eric Reed told Wired:

“These will allow visitors to reply our flights on Google Maps, or Google Earth and visualize every circle, every zig, and every zag we make, and even what the terrain underneath us looks like while we’re zigging and zagging.”